Sumo Crisis: Hakuho TV Commercial Axed

By Mariko Sanchanta and Hiroyuki Kachi

Hakuho poses with his trophy after winning the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo Jan. 23.

Hakuho, the 6-foot-4, 340-pound Mongolian-born grand champion of sumo, has become a victim of a ballooning sumo scandal in which wrestlers have admitted to fixing matches.

Though he has not been directly implicated or named in the scandal, the yokozuna (sumo’s highest rank) on Monday suffered the ignominy of having a yet-to-air television commercial axed. Sumitomo Forestry, which sells new homes, said that it had canceled a television commercial starring Hakuho, in which the strength and sturdiness of the famed sumo wrestler is compared with the strength of the company’s new homes.

A Sumitomo Forestry spokesman said the commercial was shot at the end of last year and was slated to run on Saturday, but the company decided to kill it given the current match-fixing scandal. Hakuho – who has the second-longest winning streak in the history of sumo – has not yet been paid by Sumitomo for the commercial, according to the spokesman, who declined to comment on how much he is set to receive and whether he will receive any fee at all. The company said it would wait until an announcement is made regarding the match-fixing allegations to make a decision on whether it may air the commercial in the future.

A Sapporo spokesman says there are no plans to suspend the commercial, which is slated to run to the end of February. The company also declined to comment on how much Hakuho will receive for his appearance.

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